Ideas to Action:
Independent research for global prosperity
Today the IDB is again making the case for a capital increase to its shareholders. Yet, despite an unfolding crisis that threatens development progress in Latin America to a degree that eclipses the Global Financial Crisis, talk of a financing cliff at the bank is absent from its appeal for more capital. That’s because a spike in crisis financing has yet to materialize in IDB’s lending numbers.
Makhtar Diop, former minister of finance in Senegal and current vice president for infrastructure at the World Bank, has been tapped to be the next head of the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank Group’s private sector investment arm. This is welcome news: Diop’s experience and talents can help steer IFC towards greater development impact during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
What impact do development finance institutions (DFIs) like the IFC have on actual development? Today, George Yang and I release a paper that tries to take a sectoral approach to impact: does an IFC electricity investment lead to more power production per capita in a country, or financing provided to local banks lead to a larger proportion of people with a bank account?
The World Bank has committed to providing $104 billion in financing by next June to help developing countries deal with the COVID-19 crisis. Is that sufficient to meet the needs of developing countries facing a massive growth contraction? And will the bank actually deliver on its pledge?
Now more than ever women need equal access to development finance; without it, COVID-19 & DFI response efforts could potentially widen the already-significant gender gaps. Explore our new survey on gender equity in development finance.
In the wake of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Jam v. IFC, which centered around harm to farming and fishing communities caused by Tata Mundra, a coal plant financed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The IFC’s board has yet to release the final report. It must do so now.
Some changes in leadership are more risky than others. The selection of the successor to Philippe Le Houérou, who leaves the IFC in October, is a prime example of a high-stakes decision.
A simple way to guarantee an adequate flow of long-run, sustained funding for health surveillance and disease control, and to prepare for the next novel virus in the world’s poor countries, is to create an endowment dedicated to that purpose. A $10 billion endowment could generate income of $500 million a year.
In a surprise move Tuesday, the US Treasury announced its intention to nominate Mauricio Claver-Carone to the presidency of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a role traditionally held by a citizen of a borrowing member country from the region.
Last week Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar sent a letter signed by hundreds of lawmakers from 40 countries to the heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, urging them to greatly increase the access of developing countries to financial assistance. They called for a new issue of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) at the IMF, echoing the earlier plea of Gordon Brown and Larry Summers for at least $1 trillion in new SDRs.
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